Nancy Bulmer and the skydiving nineties

Jumping out of a light aircraft 14,000 feet in the air is not for the faint-hearted and Nancy Bulmer is anything but.

Ms Bulmer, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday, has so much courage she did not bat an eyelid before climbing into a Hervey Bay Skydivers plane yesterday morning.

Wearing overalls and a waist harness, Ms Bulmer remained as calm as her instructor, Luke McWilliams, who was about to embark on his 10,268th jump after 24 years skydiving. Before taking to the skies Ms Bulmer said she was excited but said it was not a birthday present: “It's just something I've wanted to do for a long time.”

Ms Bulmer has nine grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren who knew nothing about the skydive because it simply was “not a big deal”.

When asked how she felt before leaving Hervey Bay Airport Ms Bulmer replied: “Fine. It's not much good worrying now.”

That was followed by: “It's the last fling before old age”.

Ms Bulmer's 54-year-old son, Russ Bulmer, watched his confident mum with admiration.

“I think it's fantastic,” he said as he waited for lift-off with wife Debbie.

The family believes age is no barrier to fun.

“She's fairly fit and mentally sound … that's what she wants to do so go for it,” said an excited Russ.

Ms Bulmer lives in Harden, New South Wales, and is visiting Russ and Debbie who moved to Hervey Bay eight months ago.

Skydiving was one way to explore the Fraser Coast and Ms Bulmer said, after her feet touched back down on soil at Urangan, the views were “magnificent”.

She said she had no nerves before jumping and found the experience “absolutely wonderful”.